翻译练习3

翻译练习3

中国哲学的精神

The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy

哲学在中国古代中的地位，历来被认为可以和宗教在其他文化中的地位相比拟。

The place which philosophy has occupied in Chinese civilization has been comparable to that of religion in other civilizations.

在中国，哲学是每一个受过教育的人都关切的领域。

In China, philosophy has been every educated person’s concern.

从前在中国，一个人如果受教育，首先就是受哲学方面的启蒙教育。

In the old days, if a man were educated at all, the first education he received was in philosophy.

儿童入学，首先要读的就是《论语》、《孟子》、《大学》、《中庸》。

When children went to school, the FOUR BOOKS, which consist of the Confucian Analects, the Book of Mencius, the Great Learning, and the Doctrine of the Mean, were the first ones they were taught to read.

这“四书”也是宋以后道学（在西方被称之为“新儒学”）认为最重要的文献。

The FOUR BOOKS were the most important texts of Neo-Confucianist philosophy.

孩子刚学认字，通常所用的课本《三字经》，每三个字为一组，每六个字成一句，偶句押韵，朗读时容易上口，也便于记忆。

Sometimes when the children were just beginning to learn the characters, they were given a sort of textbooks to read. This was known as the Three Characters Classic, and was so called because each sentence in the book consisted of three characters arranged so that when recited they produced a rhythmic effect, and thus helped the children to memorize them more easily.

事实上，这本书乃是中国儿童的识字课本。《三字经》的第一句“人之初，性本善”，便是孟子哲学的基本思想。

This book was in reality a primer, and the very first statement in it is that “the nature of man is originally good.” this is one of the fundamental ideas of Mencius’ philosophy.